Caliper type brakes were introduced into the United States sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s and provided a much more economical and simplified method of braking than had previously been the practice with the well known coaster brakes. The caliper type brakes commonly consist of sixty or more pieces. These brakes, front and rear, have a great number of undesirable features inherent in their design. The many pieces provide a large number of sources for trouble from rust, wear, breakage, misalignment, misadjustment, jamming as in a cable rusted tightly in its housing or on the other hand, loosening up as from any of the many nuts working loose. Also, the brakes take up a lot of space, the cables can become snagged and pulled out of place along with the hand levers, perhaps pulling the handlebars off center also. Wear of the rubber brake blocks can necessitate adjusting to take up the slack, so that when new blocks are installed the proper amount of slack must be readjusted in. Likewise, a front brake on a bicycle can easily provide the rider with danger, instead of safety, especially if there is an emergency and the rider forgets and applies power excessively, or exclusively, to the front brake. If there is dirt, loose rock, ice, oil, wet grass or something else which can interfere with the tire keeping a good grip on the riding surface, the rider is all too apt to take a high speed crash, or even be catapulted over the handlebars for a so-called "header". On a curve or turn the danger is especially great due to the fact that when these brakes are applied, friction pulls the caliper legs at right angles to their length, chattering and loss of braking friction often occurs, especially in wet weather. A careful and time-consuming examination and lubrication at many points is required in order to keep this type of brake at top efficiency. Even so, many riders, expecially elderly folk and the younger ones, find these caliper, hand-lever brakes inconvenient and difficult to use properly.